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New Decepticon City?
We built this city on Rock and Roll! ...and MEGA-DEATH. Premise Hi! Lately, I have been feeling very passionate about building a cool, new Decepticon base on Earth! I have a vision of a city that is very grand and very extravagant that I am confident will help to generate more roleplay not just for the Decepticons but also the Autobots. The question, of course is: do we need this? Will it do as it promises or just serve to be room bloat? In the interest of Trying Something New ™, I open this question up to the playerbase to gauge enthusiasm and interest. If enough people like this idea, I would like to pursue it by trying to convince staff of legitimacy of the idea. Of course there is an inconsequential amount of interest, I can just go back to the drawing board and come up with something else. The Argument for a New Decepticon Base: Our playerbase is at a modest but active level. Any ideas set forth, especially in terms of building something new, should do so with the intention of fostering as much activity as possible. While you cannot please everyone, there ought to be a decent chunk of players who really plug into it. We can encourage activity by following the fantastic model that the EDC players have promoted as the standard: less is more -- about distance. Why is it that at any given peak time for the game, +where shows a big blob of green in one to two rooms -- because they're all based out of California! Between Alameda (the primary headquarters) and San Francisco (Andi's home), there is not so much geographic and room distance keeping players apart. It keeps players together. It allows for more activity. You might even see some red there! Why? It is also accessible! For those who are interested (and I have taken part in this with my Autobot alt), you too can join in on the hijinx. There are no rooms to be navigated that require an ability (like Flight or Swim or a vehicle that utilizes it). You can just walk there! Easy-peasy! ...for sheezy! In the current incarnation of the Decepticons, we are very spread out! We have multiple bases/points of interest spread across the cosmos. On Earth/Sol System our footholds are represented by the NCC Shark (in an undisclosed location somewhere in the oceans of Earth -- formerly occupied an island in the Southwest Pacific), the Absolution Command Carrier (in Earth Orbit), Not-Blot Station (in Earth orbit), Trypticon (on Jupiter's moon Titan). We also have the entire planet of Charr (really wretched place), IHQ Headquarters-at-Nightsiege (Cybertron), Darkmount-at-Polyhex (Cybertron), an orbital station (in orbit around Cybertron). While these bases range from "ew!" to "hey, cool!" we have the problem of being very, very spread out. Our assets within the Sol System are either hidden or require movement abilities to navigate to. While this provides us with a whole heck of a lot of privacy, it makes it very difficult (and often a TP) to allow the Autobots to interact with us at our places of business. This can be very discouraging for spontaneous roleplay. A glance at +where at our peak hours will show some purple on the Absolution's Power Station, NCC Shark's Medical Ward (?), Trypticon-on-Titan, and someone on Cybertron. Very spread out! Not very good for us to roleplay more often among each other. Solutions So what about centralizing and condensing? What if we went along with this great example the EDC players are providing the rest of the MUSH and threw a Decepticon twist on things? The idea that I submit for your approval is we build another open, public city on Earth. One that allows us to centralize the Decepticon assets in the Sol System (we've got four!!) as best as possible, in a location that is accessible to virtually everyone without the need of movement abilities and puts us in a location suitably close to our In Character adversaries? It could provide an advantage to spur roleplay both within faction and cross-faction that strips away the complications of getting people together in the same room at any given time. This is where Ayotzinco comes in. Former stronghold of the Militants that was once Mexico City set in Mexico (which to them was New Aztlan), a faction of alternate-universe humans that have since been pulled from our storyline. With the Militants since gone, Ayotzinco has continued on without their original vision and leadership. It may still be prosperous but one could posit it no longer the superpower it once was. The area is still rich in materials (minerals, energy sources) and labor (human slaves!) -- but the champions that have defended it are gone. In relation to California, it is practically a hop and a skip for Transformers. It's prime real estate for a Decepticon invasion! Decently large and rich in resources, Ayotzinco can be the perfect foundation for a new Decepticon city on Earth. They wouldn't have to go far for building materials at all. This time around, they go for a mix of Aztec themes (preserved from the Militant flavor) with the forever future-looking Cybertronian architecture. Think big. Think grand. Think lots of gold and statues. Think glory and grand games -- a colliseum for public sport, a new War Academy to train Decepticons in new innovations of Earth warfare. Think research facilities that advance Decepticon technology. Think.. well.. a utopia! On Earth. In front of everyone, ripe and open. The Decepticons aren't hiding. They're doing it in front of your very eyes and they dare you to come taste the fruits of their labor -- or sour it, as your preference may be. Advantages 1. Converts an area no longer being used into something to being used! 2. On Earth, within short distance of California. Let's invite those Autobots to bring Metroplex back to the West Coast and kick up a barbeque! ... Of pain. 3. Accessibility and city offering provide opportunities not only for Decepticons but for Autobot players, too. Perform some reconnaisance! Test our defenses! Grab your sombrero and infiltrate the city to catch a jet-chariot race or share a drink with your favorite Decepticon nemesis! Grimlock, grab some friends and lead a daring commando raid on our Jet Propulsion laboratories! Be encouraged to be a pro-active hero without having to worry about destroying everything we worked for -- try nailing a portion, instead! 4. Collects the 'loose' Decepticon bases into one! The NCC-Shark can dock at our harbor and rest until we'd like to use it again. The Absolution can land at our spaceport for repairs, re-fueling, and refurbishing. Trypticon can serve as our military headquarters or simply an easy place to mothball him until we need him again. 5. The colliseum can offer us fun sporty events to put together: the jet-chariot races, gladiator games, and debates. Disadvantages 1. Hardly private at all! 2. Well-defended but not impregnable nor totally or obnoxiously defensible. 3. Might mothball things that some people really like and would rather keep playing in (NCC? Absolution? Trypticon?) 4. Changing the face of Ayotzinco. 5. Accessibility might get it completely destroyed / get us evicted should that be an avenue people really want. 6. In Character human slaves or a brainwashed population or a population that seems to be decent about living under Decepticon rule might make others feel bad. 7. Ramjet's ideas are all terrible! Boo! Staying Private and Isolated 1. Privacy! We hug each other without you knowing! 2. Isolated or requires an ability to get to it. Good luck! 3. Completely defensible or obnoxiously impregnable. Try finding us, we'll just run away! Or you'll have to come up with a TP idea to pull anything off. 4. We do not change anything! 5. Hidden bases are keeping with the theme of the cartoon. 6. Existing bases are really cool and we rather keep those! 7. Not supporting Ramjet's ideas is as your god of choice (except Ganesha) intended. Please post your comments/questions/criticisms to the Discussion Board 28. I will add them to this entry to provide discussion continuity as necessary. Comments/Questions/Criticisms 1. Won't Metroplex wipe the Decepticons off the map? ::As mentioned in Advantages 4., we can move Trypticon to the new city to serve as our military headquarters / anti-Metroplex insurance. 2. The Autobots aren't anywhere near Mexico! ::As mentioned in Advantages 2., we can just move Metroplex back to its original location in California! 3. Aren't you just providing more opportunity for people to fight? ::Conflict is at the heart of the Transformers mythology. Even the theme song tells us 'Autobots wage their battles to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons.' However, we are not proposing that robot-fighting is the entire basis of this venture. We are would like to encourage roleplay of all sorts. Suggestions that involve fighting are just some of the easiest that leap to mind. 4. Blueshift asks, "(What about) Cuba?" Similarly, Soundwave suggests the "Old World" and "Cradle of Civilization" areas like Europe or the Middle East. ::Cuba/Europe/Middle East could work but it also violates the rule that we are looking for areas that require almost no movement abilities to get to. In other words you would need Flight or Swim to get to these areas from the North American continent. Also the majority of our playerbase (the exception being you blasted Britons) have a frame of reference and an inherent ethnocentrism for America. We even have a Decepticon who is all up and about America. There is a natural comfort here. Also, Mexico City with its IC history of Ayotzinco provides us some interesting local flavor that we can add to the base. It also provides us with a sense of continuity and wraps up a hanging plot thread. Also we have historically built a city in Africa utilizing Trypticon already, so I would like to shoot for something different. ::Also we have the benefit of having Mexico City already made. We can just go in, re-write descs and add building objects as necessary! Just one step easier rather than coming up with a completely new grid -- which is not hard, just a minor hassle. ::Alternatively we could try something in CANADA but that would mean COLD WEATHER gear and perhaps a completely fresh viewpoint on how to design a base with a Canadian flair. Probably a maple syrup fountain or something... 5. Blueshift suggests interesting rooms, secret passages and stuff! ::Yeah I completely agree. I envision this city having multiple Points of Interest (POI) once it comes to complete realization. The city itself will feature a "decentralized" theme that is similar to Crystal City or Polyhex where everything of any use is spread out rather than be centralized in one heavily-defended building (i.e. the military base). Plus secret passages and rooms are a given. We have characters who turn into drill tanks. We should exploit the crap out of this. 6. Rodimus Prime says that adventures in space (i.e. scenes in space or Cybertron) are also fun and are worth considering too. ::You will get no argument from me. I am sure Blueshift can attest to how passionate I am about roleplay in space and messing with the time stream. With the bevy of shuttles, ships, spacebridges, and auxilliary shuttle system that we have on TF2005, we easily have the infrastructure in place to accomplish this. ::Historically, the "golden years" of the MUSH were when roleplay focused heavily on Earth with trips into space or Cybertron to provide a breath of fresh air before going back to Earth. That is one of the reasons why the Olympics were on Monacus. I am not saying this is better and all else is wrong -- I would not mind some extensive roleplay on Klo, for instance. That said, I am concerned that there might develop a psychological resistance to roleplay in space by means of nobody considering it or rather no one bothering to advance the idea because everything is on Earth. On the other hand this proposal is mostly concerned with getting the most out of a modest playerbase and seeing if we cannot attract some new blood at the same time by simplifying and streamlining while being flexible and open to expansion. That said I think an easy solution here is just to feature space plots every couple of weeks to keep things fresh and fun, while allowing the 'uncomfortable intimiacy' of enemy bases being near each other to fuel spontaneous player-driven roleplay. 7. Excise raises issue with the persistent belief that no battle on Decepticon grounds is worthwhile (or will be considered successful) because you must defeat every Decepticon defender, blow the place to hell, truck out Metroplex, etc. He also notices that we are providing the option to attacking a portion of the city rather than the whole shebang. ::Yes, exactly. As I responded in item 5 of this section, we are decentralizing the entire city. Many things are in their seperate areas or "cluster" of areas (kind of like how things are organized in a major city, where you might have a Garment District where multiple clothing manufacturers exist or a Little Chinatown, etc). This provides Autobots with the unique opportunity to get at Decepticon holdings (or just show up to roleplay without fighting, which is do-able) without having to plan a massive invasion force. We definitely want to emphasize the "grab and go" or rather "if you come up with the idea, throw it out on RP-Coordination, see who bites and then do it." ::This is not to say we are granting a free pass of success at every lightning strike, covert, or naked aggression operation. It is more of a "give it a shot, be considerate to your fellow players, and have fun." If it works, it works and have a drink. If it does not then go lick your wounds and try again. The idea is that we are promoting belief that the Decepticons are not nigh-invulnerable and can be hurt. You should also not feel like you are going up against impossible and overwhelming odds -- but there is definitely danger involved. Consequently you also do not have to feel like you have to deal with fifty billion gumby peons if you do not want to. Also, you can easily evict the Decepticons with a minimal amount of fighting and no use of Metroplex whatsoever. I came up with ten ideas. I will not tell you any of these because that would be spoiling. :( ::This shift in thinking about how we handle base attacks also brings up some very important questions. Namely "If you are that open to being attacked, why don't we blow up stuff every time we show up and render everything useless over time?" Destroying IC areas/resources is a tough thing to handle from an OOC perspective. You have to bear in mind that someone took the time, energy, and creativity to put what you are working to blow up together. People who enjoy it and roleplay in it extensively form a connection to it. Destroying that is kind of like flipping a big middle finger to everyone who was involved in the creation and relevance of what you are looking to knock down -- even if this kind of thing was preordained from the get-go. An example would be the loss of Decepticon Airbase Argosy last year. If you never got a chance to roleplay within it, you really missed out sucker. It was pretty awesome. But now it is a pile of scrap rusting in the ocean. All we can really do is provide condolences to the creator with, "Sorry we sent your vision to hell without asking you first, dude. :/" While the creator may have gotten over that by now, it still hurts and it still sucks even a year later. Hell I did not even build the thing and I still miss it. A more recent example is the debacle concerning the Alameda base. The Decepticons were intending on destroying it and I assure you, we have the firepower in place for it. We even had administrative approval for it. But a few players were really upset with this, citing this was something they put a lot of energy and effort into it and threatened to quit if we demolished the place. So we scrubbed the whole thing because good roleplay should not come at the expense of widespread hurt feelings. We just moved on with a different idea, game on. ::On the other hand, this is a war so suck it up, you mary. Anything established or built should come with it the caveat that it will go bye-bye. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but at some point down the line. Having a bunch of aging, decrepit buildings that people are afraid to torch because it is going to hurt other people's feelings ends up being the 500lbs gorilla in the room. Good continuity probably involves a sense of dynamicism. Good war roleplay probably involves a sense of loss. Feeling like you've accomplished something in the terms of a game usually comes at the expense of another. For Grimlock to be a dangerous Autobot, he has to pound some Decepticons in the face. To be a successful raider in World of Warcraft, you need the best gear and you gain it at the expense of someone else in your group not getting that gear before you. For your A+ in organic chemistry to mean anything, someone else has to have gotten an A- or a B or a failing grade. This is a pretty Marxist viewpoint and before we explode into a lengthy tangent, I will bring us back to our original consideration. When is it acceptable to blow something up and when is it better to damage it and when is it better to fail at it? As drama would dictate is the best rule of thumb. You do what is best for the on-going storyline. When things become irrelevant or pointless, you get rid of it in favor of something fresh and attractive. Maybe that comes at the expense of blowing up Iacon or Nightsiege. Maybe that comes at the expense of ditching our current FC roster and bringing Generation 1 characters on that people go to the trouble of applying for. When you set your sights on something that has a lot of people roleplaying on a regular basis in, it has a sense of value and attacking it definitely generates a lot of good heat. Do you blow it up? Maybe. Do you just damage it? Maybe. Do you fail? Maybe. It is not my place to dictate to you what you should do in this situation but rather advocate that you be rational and be considerate to your fellow players, obey the consent rule, have fun, and see what the story ends up being. ::That was really long. If you read through that, let me know and I will give you a cookie. ::It will be a poison cookie. 8. In quoting Excise again, " Violence RP begets non-violence RP. Giving people reasons to fight is just fine, and usually results in more social scenes anyway as people get repaired, conduct strategy sessions, run scouting missions, building death lasers, etc." ::I agree and I just included this in here because it is worth repeating. Building and supply logistics will be huge things here. Hopefully that will attract people to apply for Constructicons damn it. 9. Kup mentions moving Metroplex back to California is not necessary because you have a refurbished Ark available. Or they can move in with the EDC at Alameda. ::I probably overstepped my boundaries mentioning Metroplex here. The positioning of Metroplex and relevance of the Ark or Alameda as Autobot bases is best left to that Rodimus Prime guy and what his constituents ask of him. 10. On the topic of how to treat Mexican civilians during the time of Decepticon occupation, there are a lot of viewpoints. Many prefer to view them as slaves to as to avoid notion of "Decepticons are a-ok!" by the people. There might even be Decepticon sympathizers. ::I do agree that life under Decepticon rule would be pretty terrible. If it wasn't, why would Team Good Guy want to actively oust them? On other hand, there are probably a bunch of people who enjoy benefits of living under Decepticon occupation because they will do whatever it takes to make their lives as comfortable as possible. We also have the added complication of Decepticon Headmasters and their ilk, where their Nebulan component may be interested in a life that doesn't involve being around Decepticons all the time. The city may end up being a haven for the human enemies of Team Good Guy and may encourage people to apply for human characters who aren't part of the EDC. We also have Mindwipe the Hypnotist and Soundwave the Communications God who can affect the way people think. Our best bet is to start off with the slave thing and work our way up as player desires and good storytelling dictate. 11. What do we do with Trypticon? ::In my opinion, we can work with Trypticon in several ways. We can bring him in for the start of things just to ward off any early attempts from Metroplex to put the kibosh on things before things are solidified. We can then either move him off to some other place when things are done (since we can easily work in a set of defenses for the city that would pose it to be a danger to Metroplex! Think the transforming defenses of New Crystal City and Autobot City in the movie). We can also leave him in and "grey" him out in that he is ICly there (mentioned in room descriptions) but as a coded entity, has been put in an OOC staff locker for the time being. Or we can just leave him there and have him be the Decepticon military base (since he possesses a spacebridge, super important for us).